Oil on canvas painting depicting an animated river landscape: a ferryboat arrives at the bank with its passengers while various figures stroll along the path. A beautiful day of summer leisure. Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Relined.
Claude-Sébastien Hugard de la Tour was a French painter and watercolourist, born April 7, 1816 in Cluses (Haute-Savoie).
He studied with Alexandre Calame in Geneva, then with François Diday, famous Swiss landscape painters of the romantic school. He found his inspiration in the vast landscapes of the French Alps, but he also painted in Normandy, Brie and the Pyrenees, and later in the Paris region. As soon as he moved to Paris, he became very successful. He participated in the Paris Salon from 1844 to 1886. He received the third-class medal in 1844 and the second-class medal in 1846.
He moved to Couilly, near Paris, and died on September 23, 1885 at the age of 69 of a stroke, on his return from a long study trip to Haute-Savoie.
Several of his works were purchased by the French government and are now represented in a number of French museums, notably local ones: Annecy, Aurillac, Bagnères de Bigorre, Béziers and Chambéry.
Sources: Benezit, Dictionary of Artists; Théophile Gautier, Correspondance Générale 1862-1864; Archives de France.
Artist: Claude-Sébastien Hugard (1816-1885).
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 48 x 65 cm. / 19 x 25 ½ in.
Frame: 66 x 81 cm. / 24 ½ x 32 in. Gilt wood, very good condition.
Origin: France.
